Amazon's Bezos pushes Prime Video redesign focused

What happened

The Amazon founder and executive chairman pushed Prime Video head Mike Hopkins to overhaul the streaming service so that AI is front and center, according to four people with direct knowledge of the matter. The resulting project, known internally as Lighthouse, would shine a light on Amazon's AI capabilities for the more than 200 million consumers who use Prime Video.

Prime Video's plans, the people said, could change due to feedback from early testers, or financial or other concerns. Prime Video, like other streaming services, relies on paid placement by studios, as well as software algorithms, to dictate where content is displayed on the home screen, said Michael Goodman, director of entertainment research for Parks Associates.

Founder's personal involvementBezos has been personally involved in the Prime Video overhaul, the people said, including receiving occasional updates, underscoring the stakes for a company battling a reputation for subpar AI foundation models. Improved personalization can lead to more hours spent on the service.

Why it matters

Lighthouse is viewed as one critical piece in Amazon's companywide efforts to elevate the company's stature in artificial intelligence, as competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic speed ahead, the people said. Other AI initiatives, such as the multiyear overhaul of its Alexa voice assistant to provide more conversational responses, have had mixed results and the unit is still losing money, people familiar with the matter have previously told Reuters.

Contentious meeting sparked overhaulThe Prime Video initiative ⁠grew out ⁠of an internal presentation the streaming service's executives made to Bezos last autumn that turned contentious, according to these people. Bezos was displeased that Hopkins' plans to update Prime Video failed to sufficiently highlight the service's capabilities in AI and personalisation, according to the people. Bezos' response prompted the Prime Video executives to scrap their previous plans and embark on Lighthouse.

Lighthouse entails a broad swath of new features that use AI to improve film and TV recommendations, in part by learning consumers' preferences, and responding to spoken requests, according to one person with knowledge of the project who spoke on condition of anonymity. Prime Video is working on redesigning the main home page as part of the project, the other people said.

The final redesign has not yet been settled, but one option Prime Video executives discussed includes AI-driven tiles, with pre-populated viewing suggestions like "action movies from the 1980s" or "Christmas rom-coms," three ⁠of the people ‌said.

The traditional search function would remain, as well as space at the top of the screen for video highlights promoting new releases or sporting events, such as "Thursday Night Football," the weekly National Football League game that is exclusive to Amazon. Amazon is already testing versions of the redesign with a few users, ⁠said one of the people.

What to watch

His involvement with the Prime Video project is unusual as he has taken a step back from most day-to-day operations at Amazon since relinquishing the CEO title in 2021. He also owns the Washington Post and is the founder of spaceflight firm Blue Origin and AI startup Prometheus, reportedly ‌valued at around $41 billion.

Prime Video is one of Amazon's best-known brands and is available to consumers in a number of markets where Amazon has limited or no e-commerce presence. As part of the Lighthouse project, Amazon has also discussed integrating the Alexa voice assistant into Prime Video's search function, the people said. Amazon became the first streaming service to win an Academy Award in a major category. S. 8 per cent and Walt Disney's Disney+ at 5 per cent, according to April data from Nielsen.